


Oil Country Coffee Company

by Menacherie



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Always a Different Sex, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Cisswap, F/M, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-22
Updated: 2016-03-22
Packaged: 2018-05-28 07:21:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6319930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Menacherie/pseuds/Menacherie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Oil Country Coffee Company looks like a literal hole in the wall. The brick facade is crumbling on the corners and around the windows. The windows look like they haven’t been washed in a decade and the door doesn’t have a bell to accompany it because the door squeaks loud enough for the whole building to hear. It’s probably on the worst street in the city, there’s graffiti on nearly every wall that she walks by.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Oil Country Coffee Company

Oil Country Coffee Company looks like a literal hole in the wall. The brick facade is crumbling on the corners and around the windows. The windows look like they haven’t been washed in a decade and the door doesn’t have a bell to accompany it because the door squeaks loud enough for the whole building to hear. It’s probably on the worst street in the city, there’s graffiti on nearly every wall that she walks by. 

The first time Connie steps into the store she feels transported to another place, because while the outside looks like it’s about to fall apart, the inside is neat and cozy. There isn’t a speck of dust anywhere, the booths are comfortable, the tables are always cleaned a few minutes after someone leaves and even the bar stools by the pastry counter look comfortable. The pastries themselves, Connie finds out after her first visit, are enough to brave the cold streets, but the coffee is what draws her in every day before her first class. 

“Connie what the hell,” Mitchie hisses the first time Connie drags her along. 

“I swear to god their coffee is ten times better than Starbucks and at half the price,” Connie says, tugging on her arm. If they don’t get there soon they’ll lose out to the morning rush and Connie will be coffeeless. 

“If we die I’m coming back to haunt you,” Mitche tells her, gripping Connie’s arm tightly as two guys in a hoodie decorate the apartment building in broad daylight. 

“Can you haunt someone who is already dead?” Connie asks. 

“Shut the fuck up,” Mitchie says. 

\--

Connie becomes a regular before school has even started. Not that it really matters, as Connie has been taking summer classes. It’s been a long summer of ignoring Mitchie and Dylan’s snapchats and instagram posts. It’s been a long summer full of all nighters and Oil Country’s frankly amazing coffee. 

“Hey Connie!” Taylor says brightly when she walks in with her overstuffed bag. 

Connie waves at Taylor and sets up her things at her table. Jordan is considering putting up a plague there in her honor, but she thinks that’s plain silly. Once she’s plugged her laptop in and connected her phone to the charger she walks back over to the counter. Taylor is the only one behind the counter and she narrows her gaze. 

“I’m not working the espresso machine,” Taylor says, putting his hands in the air. 

“Thank god,” Connie says with a grin. 

“I’d be insulted-”Taylor starts.

“But last time you touched my baby you almost burned the store down,” Jordan finishes for him as he walks in with a plate of cookies to put in the pastry display. 

“Ohh,” Connie says, and her stomach gurgles at the smell as he walks by. 

“Fresh out of the oven,” Jordan says. 

“I’ll take one with my usual,” Connie tells Taylor. 

Taylor nods, and starts ringing her up while Jordan doctors up her coffee. Jordan is the only one she trusts to make it, besides Ferry. Ferry only drops in when someone is sick though. 

“Thanks,” she says when he hands it and the cookie over the counter. 

Connie takes a bite of the cookie before taking a sip of her coffee and almost drops her coffee. “Holy shit,” she says through the crumbs, and actually sets her coffee down. 

“What the fuck happened to the shitty instabake cookies?” she asked Jordan. 

“We got a pastry chef!” Taylor says cheerfully. 

“This is amazing,” Connie says, finishing off her cookie. 

“Better than my coffee?” Jordan asks with a pout. 

Taylor snorts in laughter when Connie genuinely looks conflicted about the choice set before her. “I don’t know,” she finally says, and Jordan scowls. 

“Nail!” he yells, and Connie tilts her head in confusion. 

A headful of messy hair sticks out of the kitchen divider, followed by a tan boy a little older than Connie. 

“Yeah?” the boy asks.

“This is Connie,” Jordan says, “And she is of the insane opinion that your cooking skills are almost as good as my coffee skills,” he finishes off. 

The boy, Nail, Connie assumes, gives her a toothy grin and Connie smiles back at him while Taylor says something about barista skills and not coffee skills.   
“You like my cookie?” Nail asks, and Connie looks down at what is left of the cookie in her hands. 

“Best cookie I’ve ever eaten,” she tells him, and he laughs. Connie flushes a little and wishes her face didn’t get so red all the time. 

“I make even better things than cookies,” he tells her. 

“Oh no don’t tell me that,” Connie says, glancing back up at him. He’s moved from the doorway to the counter and he’s still looking at her. “I’ll have to come here every day for a snack and coffee, I’ll never leave.” 

Nail laughs again. “You pretty much stay here anyways,” Taylor tells her. “We even thought about putting your picture on the wall next to the booth with a plug.”

“Shut up!” Connie says, her blush gets darker and she clears her throat. “I have a paper due in like, two hours,” she tells them, nodding her head at her booth where her things are sitting.

“It was nice meeting you,” Nail says. 

“You too!” Connie squeaks out before turning around and almost running into another customer. 

\--

Dylan and Mitchie are home when she gets back to her apartment. Mitchie takes one look at her and narrows her eyes. 

“What?”

“I smell baked goods,” she says. 

“You’re fucking nuts,” Dylan says, but he’s curled up around her so that has to make him just as bad. 

“You know, a hello would have been nice,” Connie says, setting her bag down on the table and narrowing her gaze at them. They better have not had sex on the couch. 

“I swear to god if you ate something sweet and didn’t bring me back something I’ll murder you,” Mitchie says, and winces when Dylan elbows her in the stomach. 

Connie rolls her eyes and digs the bag of cookies out of her bag. They’re a little smushed, but still smell good. “There,” she says, and chucks them at Mitchie’s head. 

“Yessss,” she says in a voice reminiscent of Gollum.   
Dylan sighs and Connie laughs at his face. She grabs her things and starts to head back to her room. 

\--

Connie is in the middle of one of her 300 courses when she gets a text from the Coffee Shop’s group chat. She glances at the image that Taylor texted everyone, and her stomach rumbles at the sight of the turnovers. She bites her lip and mentally adds more reps of everything to her workout. 

_those look amaaaazzing :D_ she sends back. 

Taylor responds with a picture of Nail smiling dopily at his phone, and Connie flushes bright red and goes back to taking notes. 

\--

“When do your hockey games start back up?” Jordan asks as he tops her coffee off. She looks up from the flaky decadence that Nail has in the display case and sighs.

“Next week,” she says, eyeing the display case. 

“Play hockey?” Nail asks as he comes through with something that smells like Canada. Connie lets out a pitiful moan and slaps a hand over her mouth. 

Jordan muffles a laugh into his sleeve that he masks with a cough, but Taylor isn’t so kind and lets out a loud guffaw. Nail is staring at her with dark eyes and Connie clears her throat. “Yeah, I play for the college team,” she says, her eyes darting to the pastries he’s holding. 

Nail glances down at the pastry and grins. “One won’t kill you,” he says, and takes one off the bottom of the display before slipping it onto a napkin and gently pushing it over the counter. 

Connie chews on her lip again and glances at Jordan and Taylor, who are conversing in low tones with their heads bowed. “Okay,” she says, and practically snatches the pastry off the counter to try it. 

Her eyes flutter shut when she takes her first bite and she covers her mouth before she lets out a moan. “You put real maple syrup in this,” are the first words out of her mouth. “Oh god this is amazing,” she tells him. 

Her knees honestly feel a little weak and she has to move to sit down at the bar stools. Jordan smirks at her and places her coffee in front of her. “I think I just saw God,” she tells him. 

Nail’s smile is large and toothy and she can’t help but be a little charmed by it. Taylor squawks. “No way is it that good,” he says, and steals half of her pastry before she can smack his hand away. 

“Holy shit,” Taylor says as she scowls at him chewing part of her pastry. 

Nail sighs and takes out another pastry, but she waves her hands at him as Taylor and Jordan fuss over the real canadian maple syrup flavor. “I couldn’t eat anymore,” she says. “Also if I show up at my apartment smelling like maple syrup Mitchie would kill me and tell all the coaches,” she says, giving him a slow smile. 

“Even if you bribe?” He asks with a grin. 

Connor laughs and nods. “She’ll be mad I didn’t get her a whole one, and I couldn’t do that to her diet plan.” 

Nail pouts at her but puts the pastry back. “Your loss,” he says casually. 

“Oh, I know,” she says, and takes a bite of what is left on her napkin. 

\--

Hockey starts up again, and Connie has to make a conscious effort to avoid the shop. She sticks her head in and waves every time she passes by, but she feels bereft of coffee more often than not. Still, after a particularly grueling practice, she trudges into Oil Country. Her hair is tied up in a braid that feels like it’s frosted over on the way to the shop and she’s shivering even in her winter gear. Taylor and Jordan are behind the counter, and Nail is staring at his pastry display and moving things around

“It’s freezing,” she swears as she shuffles over to the counter. “I think I’ve lost feeling in my toes,” she tells Jordan. 

“Uh oh,” he says as he starts making her coffee. She takes her hands out of her gloves and shivers at the blue fingernails. “Look,” she says waving her hand around. “My nails are blue!” 

Taylor makes a sympathetic noise, but doesn’t look up from his phone. 

Nail makes a mournful noise and grabs her hands. “So cold,” he says, and she flushes. His hands are warm and he grins at her. 

“It’s negative a million,” she tells him. 

“Chocolate chip cookie to warm them up?” He asks. 

She really shouldn't, the coffee that Jordan just put up is more than enough of an indulgence, but he smiles at her again and she nods. He lets go of her hands to grab her a cookie and she sighs. “Thanks,” she tells him. 

She glances over at Jordan, who rolls his eyes. “Because, y’know,” Jordan says. “The coffee won’t warm you up or anything,” he tells her, and she feels her face flush, heat spreading across her cheeks and nose, the tips of her ears going warm as well. 

Taylor hip checks Jordan without looking up from his phone. “Rude,” he hisses. 

Nail hands over the cookie with a bright smile that Connie can’t help but return. “I gave you one for your roommate too, so she doesn’t tattle,” he tells her, and Connie bites her lip and nods at him. 

“Thanks,” she says. 

Taylor finally looks up from his phone and rings her up, only charging her for one of the cookies. Taylor winks at her and nods at Nail, who is back to fixing the display case. She gives him large eyes and Taylor shakes his head at her. “Tell Mitchie she needs to work on her backhand,” he tells her. 

“Yeah and what about me?” she teases. 

“You almost lost an edge during that two-on-one,” he tells her, and she nods. 

“Cause I was pushed,” she says, rolling her eyes at him. 

“And?” He asks. 

She shakes her head at him and turns to leave. “Thanks for the advice!” She yells back. 

\--

“Pastry guy is hardcore crushing on you,” Mitche tells her during warmups. 

Connie fumbles the puck. “What?” She hisses. 

“Harcore heart eyes,” Mitchie sings out and nods towards the section where Jordan and Taylor usually sit. Like usual, they’re both kitted out in plenty of Vikings gear, but Nail is sitting next to them as well, and from the C embroidered on his chest, he’s wearing her jersey. 

“I’m going to die,” she tells Mitche, who just cackles. 

“Go flip him a puck,” Mitche tells her, and shoves her towards the glass. All three boys wave when they see her and she rolls her eyes and flips Nail a puck. He laughs brightly and her knees wobble a little, but she skates off, thankful that warmups are over. 

\--

They win the game, but they win most of their games. Still, Connie likes to reward herself for these things, and she did have a 4 point game. She shows up at Oil Country with a big smile plastered on her face. 

Taylor isn’t at the register, Nail is, which is weird in itself. The fact that she can’t see Jordan either is slightly worrying. “They didn’t leave you up here by yourself did they?” 

Nail looks at her with wide eyes. “They yelled something about a coffee emergency?” He asked, and then looked down at the buttons of the cash register. “They said it would only be a few minutes.”

“You know they probably just saw how empty it was in here and went out back to make out,” she tells him. 

Nail sighs. “I know,” he tells her. “I don’t know how to make your coffee,” he tells her morosely. 

“It’s okay,” she says and hops up on one of the barstools and leans on the counter. She takes the time to unwind her scarf and take off her gloves. “I’ve got time, all my papers are turned in and since we won last night we don’t have practice until Monday,” she says. 

“It was a good game!” Nail tells her. 

“Thanks,” she says. 

“I didn’t have a hat to throw,” he tells her, and then blinks and gives her a big grin. “Hold on,” he tells her, then runs into the kitchen. 

She tilts her head and watches the door swing behind him. He comes back a few minutes later with a bag in his hand. “I saved you the last Maple Pastry,” he tells her. 

Connie lets out a frankly embarrassing squeak. “Oh,” she says, and opens the bag when he places it in front of her. 

“I can go warm it up if you want? It should still be warm, but you know,” Nail says, and twists his hands together. 

“No, this is good!” She blurts out and pulls the pastry closer. It’s still warm to the touch, not hot like last time, so the maple has cooled down. She tears off a little bite and sighs when the maple starts to melt against her tongue. 

“This is so good,” she says, her eyes fluttering shut. 

Nail lets out a little squeak and her eyes snap back open. She flushes bright red and ducks her head. She clears her throat and opens her mouth to say something, but the bell by the door clanks against the wall when it’s opens and she shifts in her seat instead. 

Nail looks a little frazzled when he runs back to the register and smiles at the new customer and Connie glances back down at her pastry. 

“I got it,” Connie hears Taylor say, and her ears go red, because that means he and Jordan probably saw everything. A few minutes later her coffee is placed in front of her and when she finally looks back up, Nail is back in the kitchen. 

\--

Connie is 99.9 percent positive that Mitchie was the one who proposed the idea of a bake sale for the team’s fundraiser. Connie is the Captain, so she honestly isn’t sure how it got approved without her knowledge, but the flyer is staring her right in the face. “I can’t cook,” she reminds Mitchie in confusion. 

“You know someone who can help you,” Mitchie says, and Connie frowns until she realizes what Mitchie means. 

“You set this up,” she says, and Mitchie just laughs at Connie’s face. 

\--

“Uhm,” Connie says. “So I know you like, get paid to bake stuff and make really good things, but do you think you could teach me how to make brownies?” Connie blurts out the next time she sees Nail. 

He tilts his head. “Trying to steal my recipes?” He asks. 

She laughs. “Oh no, nothing like that. I’d ruin them anyways, the hockey team is having a bake sale for a fundraiser, and uh, I can’t even cook pasta?” She tells him. 

“I mean, I can make KD,” she says, when his eyebrows quirk up. She blushes and ducks her head. “Nevermind, asking was stupid, I’ll just. I’ll buy some from you or, go to the store and get some-” she stops talking when he leans over the counter and grabs her hands.

“I’ll help you bake,” he tells her. “How many brownies?” 

“Uh,” Connie says, her eyes flickering between his hands and his mouth and she snaps her own mouth shut. “Probably like, uh, two batches? Two batches should be good,” she says, her eyes wide. 

“Tomorrow good? After your class?” Nail asks. 

Connie nods quickly and Nail grins at her and squeezes her hand. “It will be fun,” he tells her and then lets go. Connie takes a deep breath and smiles back at him. 

“You haven’t seen me cook yet,” she reminds him with a laugh.

\--

“Okay, I can do this,” Connie tells herself. Nail has a batch cooling on the counter and she can totally do this batch by herself while he makes celebratory maple pastries. 

She looks back down at the recipe card and bites her lip. “I can’t do this,” she mutters, but starts putting together the ingredients anyways. She very carefully measures everything out, chewing on her lip. 

“Oh god how do you not mix up the sugar and the salt every time?” She asks him, staring at the bowl in front of her. 

“Less salt,” he reminds her, “and they look different.”

“Right, yeah,” she says, her voice wobbling. 

He puts the pastries in the oven and moves back over to her. “You got all the ingredients out!” He says cheerfully, like it’s an accomplishment. 

“I think I did,” she tells him, looking over at him. 

“Here,” Nail says, setting out two bowls. “Mix the the wet ingredients together and I’ll mix the dry ones, the flour might be a little advanced for you,” he says with a grin. 

“Rude!” She gasps. 

He laughs and nods at her shirt, which is already covered in flour. “Okay, well it’s not like I can get any messier,” she tells him. 

Nail quirks an eyebrow at her and swipes his thumb over her cheek. She flushes warm under his thumb, but frowns when she sees the flour collected there. “Oh,” she says, wrinkling her nose. 

“It’s even in your hair,” he tells her. 

“Okay, whatever masterchef, not all of us can stay handsome while we cook,” she tells him, as she rolls her eyes. She freezes when she realizes what she said and quickly turns back towards her bowl. 

Nail grabs her hand and gently tugs until she turns back around. She doesn’t look up at his eyes though, until he gently lifts her head. “I’m handsome?” He asks, smiling at her. 

Connie’s cheeks go even more red, if possible and she bites her lip. “Because I think you’re pretty,” he tells her and runs his thumb over one of her eyebrows. “Even with flour all over,” he says.

Her heart flutters. “I guess you’re handsome,” she says. 

He presses their foreheads together, and Connie can’t help but lean up and press their lips together too. He sighs into the kiss and drops his hands to her hips and she pulls him closer, looping her arms around his neck. 

\--

Connie makes it home in a daze, feeling like she’s floating on butterflies or something equally adorable. Mitchie takes one look at her and bursts into laughter. “I told you he had major heart eyes for you,” she says. 

Connie frowns. “How did you know?” 

“You have flour handprints on your ass,” Mitchie tells her. 

Connie lets out a squeak of embarrassment and flies into her bedroom. 

Still, she thinks when she changes into something less flour covered, at least now she had an excuse for coming home smelling like maple pastries all the time.

**Author's Note:**

> same name on twitter/tumblr, come yell at me over conyak plz


End file.
